Recently, with the spread of smartphones and tablet PCs and activation of high-capacity multimedia communication, mobile traffic has significantly increased. Mobile traffic is expected to double every year. Since most mobile traffic is transmitted through a base station (BS), communication service operators are being confronted with serious network load. To process increasing traffic, communication operators have installed networks and accelerated commercialization of next-generation mobile communication standards, such as mobile WiMAX or long term evolution (LTE), capable of efficiently processing large amounts of traffic. However, another solution is required to cope with greater amounts of traffic in the future.
D2D communication refers to decentralized communication technology for directly transmitting traffic between contiguous nodes without using infrastructure such as a BS. In a D2D communication environment, each node of a portable device, etc. searches for physically adjacent devices, configures a communication session, and transmits traffic. Since such D2D communication is being spotlighted as the technological basis of next-generation mobile communication after 4G due to ability thereof to cope with traffic overload by distributing traffic converging upon the BS. For this reason, a standardization institute such as 3rd generation partnership (3GPP) or institute of electrical and electronics engineers (IEEE) is establishing D2D communication standards based on LTE-advanced (LTE-A) or Wi-Fi and Qualcomm etc. have developed independent D2D communication technology.
D2D communication is expected not only to contribute to increased performance of a mobile communication system but also to create a new communication service. Further, an adjacency based social network service or a network game service can be supported. A connectivity problem of a device in a shadow area can be overcome using a D2D link as a relay. Thus, D2D technology is expected to provide new services in various fields.
In fact, D2D communication, such as infrared communication, ZigBee, radio frequency identification (RFID), and near field communication (NFC) based on RFID, has already been widely used. However, strictly speaking, it is difficult for these technologies to be classified as D2D communication for decentralizing traffic of a BS because they support only special communication purposes within a significantly limited distance (around 1 m).
According to the D2D communication, D2D user equipments can transmit and receive data therebetween without aid of a base station. In addition, such data transmission and reception may be performed using existing uplink channels. Since the D2D user equipments can transmit and receive data without intervention of the base station, a method capable of ensuring the data transmission and reception between the D2D user equipments is required. In particular, regarding data retransmission in the D2D communication, specific proposals have not been made so far.